(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus, image processing system and image processing program for receiving image data from information processing devices such as remote personal computers (to be referred to as PCs) by way of a communications line such as LAN (local area network) and performing image processing over the received image data and producing printed output, and in particular, relates to an image processing apparatus for suitably executing a confidential printing process when a confidential print job is received.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
As the image processing apparatus for printing out an image-processed result of image data received from without, so-called multi functional peripherals (MFPs) having basic functions such as printer, scanner, facsimile and copier functions and other various functions have been widely used. Particularly, with the recent development of communications network technology, image processing systems have been rapidly developing, which can perform various image-related processes such as transmission and reception processing of facsimile data, network print processing, transfer processing of scanned images, in cooperation with other multi functional peripherals, printers, copiers, scanner devices, facsimile machines or image processors and PCs and the like.
In such an image processing system, the image processing apparatus receives print jobs, transmitted facsimile jobs and the like from remote PCs, facsimile machines and other information processing devices by way of communications lines such as LANs, etc. Then, the image processing apparatus effects various processes over the image data contained in these jobs and outputs the image processed result to the image forming portion, where a printing process corresponding to the image data thus processed is effected and output.
Recently, based on the nowaday trend of improvement of the security consciousness relating to information processing, use of the apparatuses is spreading, which have a confidential function for preventing the content of a print job from being viewed by a third person by previously registering image ID information such as a password, PIN number or the like for every received job so as to prohibit a third person from manipulating the print job thus registered with the image ID information.
However, when print data for a print job received from a certain information processing device is confidential information, if the print data is printed out straightway, there occurs the case in which, even if the user immediately goes to the place where the image processing apparatus as the designated output end is after the user gives a printing command from the information processing device, the printing process of the print-designated print data has been already printed out. As a result, there is a fear that the printed material of the print data is viewed by a third person before the user who should receive it.
As an apparatus of performing appropriate image processing while keeping the confidentiality of the confidential information received from the information processing device thus connected by the communication line, there is a known configuration disclosed by patent document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Hei 10-243134). The facsimile machine of patent document 1 receives from the terminal a signal that designates whether a print job to be output is confidential or usual, and it starts a printing operation of the job added with the terminal number information if the job is designated as a usual output. In contrast if the job is designated as a confidential output, the machine starts a printing operation only when a valid password is input by the user. Patent document 1 further discloses a feature that if no password has been input by the operator within a predetermined period of time after the confidential output was designated from the terminal, the print job of the confidential information is cancelled and the notice of that effect is given to the terminal and displayed on the display of the terminal.
However, most of the image processing apparatus equipped with a confidential processing function, inclusive of the above facsimile machine, entail the problem that reception of the printout becomes late because the print data including confidential information is output only after the user has reached the image processing apparatus.
Further, recent image processing apparatus (image forming apparatus) such as MFPs and the like are mostly set up so that, if a predetermined period (some minutes to ten-odd minutes) has elapsed without any printing operation, in order to essentially save the energy for the fuser unit, the apparatus status is changed from the state in which the normal power is supplied to the fuser unit (which will be referred to hereinbelow as “normal power status”) to the state in which the amount of power supplied to the fuser unit is lowered (which will be referred to hereinbelow as“energy saving mode”) or to the state in which the power to the fuser unit is turned off (which will be referred to hereinbelow as “fuser-off mode”) If the user goes to the image processing apparatus for printing out the confidential printing when the image processing apparatus is in its power saving status such energy-saving mode or fuser-off mode, the user has to wait until the fuser unit is elevated in temperature to the predetermined level, thus the reception of the printout is delayed.